About 35 attend transitional housing meeting

April 17, 2008|By Elissa Dickey, edickey@aberdeennews.com

A young family has moved to Aberdeen and is living in a two-bedroom apartment. One day, there is a knock on the door, and suddenly, a cousin has moved in with his family. Then there is another knock on the door - another cousin has moved his family in. The fourth knock, said the Rev. Todd Harder, is the landlord. Harder, pastor of Aberdeen's Evangelical Free Church, shared this scenario with the roughly 35 people attending a transitional housing meeting on Thursday morning at Presentation Heights. Harder said people think homelessness is not an issue in Aberdeen, but it is. It's not people living in boxes, he said. It's the scenario he shared. “We don't see it because they're doubled up,” said Harder, a former Air Force Reserve chaplain,. Thursday's meeting was an initiative of the Aberdeen Area Community Action Resource team, said Amy Blackstone, public relations director for the Aberdeen Area Chamber of Commerce. The topic was transitional housing for people who, for whatever reason - including after fires, or after disasters like last May's flooding - need a place to stay, she said. Those in attendance on Thursday represented various organizations - on the city, county, state and federal level - involved with housing. Each shared what his or her entity offers. Other objectives included determining unmet needs and where gaps exist. Some attendees were able to make connections and find new ways to help people based on what others shared at the meeting.